Mindful Eating

It’s January 4th… how are you doing with your goals, resolutions, and/or intentions?

According to Statistic Brain, 27% of us will have abandoned them by January 7th, and a survey by Insider showed that nearly 50% of resolutions have to do with diet and eating patterns.

That’s why I wanted to talk about Mindful Eating today.

I first learned about it while listening to one of the Masterclass sessions on the Calm app. Then I started looking into it. According to Healthline, “It has been shown to promote weight loss, reduce binge eating, and help you feel better.”

The simplicity of this practice blew my mind and forever changed how I think about food.

How Mindful Eating Works

The next time you’re hungry, go to your kitchen and get a piece of fruit

Before doing anything with the fruit, just hold it in your hand and look at it. Observe the peel or skin and the parts of your fruit. Ask yourself, are you really hungry or are you eating for some other reason (stress, boredom, dehydration, etc.)?

Wash the fruit. Notice how the fruit feels.

Take a bite of the fruit. As you do so, notice how the peel or skin feels and sounds as you bite into it. Notice how the juice from the fruit tastes and feels in your mouth. Notice the texture as you chew. Notice how the fruit smells.

As you continue eating, think of the people who helped get your fruit get to you: the farmers, the delivery drivers, the grocers.

Give thanks for everything that has gone into giving you this fruit and how fortunate you are to have it nourishing your body.

Making It A Lifestyle

If you’re like me, then that sounds much different from how you’re used to eating. And that was only with a single ingredient fruit… imagine trying to think about all of the ingredients in something more complicated!

I’m totally guilty of wolfing down pad thai from a food truck because it’s the only thing I had time to grab in between meetings. But when I keep mindful eating in the forefront of my mind, I’m able to at the very least make better choices and reach for an apple instead of a bag of potato chips. Or if I do grab the chips, I’m conscious of myself making that decision.

If you’ve made a health- or diet-related goal for yourself this year, I hope that practicing mindful eating can help you reach it.